As the editor of Opera magazine, John Allison, notes in his editorial in the June issue, Donizetti fans are currently spoilt for choice, enjoying a ‘Donizetti revival’ with productions of several of the composer’s lesser known works cropping up in houses around the world.

This Winterreise is the final instalment of Matthias Goerne’s series of Schubert lieder for Harmonia Mundi and it brings the Matthias Goerne Schubert Edition, begun in 2008, to a dark, harrowing close.

We see the characters first in two boxes at an opera house. The five singers share a box and stare at the stage. But Konstanze’s eye is caught by a man in a box opposite: Bassa Selim (actor Tobias Moretti), who stares steadily at her and broods in voiceover at having lost her, his inspiration.

Richard Strauss may be most closely associated with the soprano voice but
this recording of a selection of the composer’s lieder by baritone Thomas
Hampson is a welcome reminder that the rapt lyricism of Strauss’s settings
can be rendered with equal beauty and character by the low male voice.

Bernarda Fink’s recording of Gustav Mahler’s Lieder is an important new release that includes outstanding performances of the composer’s well-known songs, along with compelling readings of some less-familiar ones.

This live performance of Laurent Pelly’s Glyndebourne staging of
Humperdinck’s affectionately regarded fairy tale opera, was recorded at
Glyndebourne Opera House in July and August 2010, and the handsomely produced
disc set — the discs are presented in a hard-backed, glossy-leaved book and
supplemented by numerous production photographs and an informative article by
Julian Johnson — is certainly stylish and unquestionably recommendable.

Recorded at a live performance in 2012, this CD brings together an eclectic
selection of turn-of-the-century orchestral songs and affirms the extraordinary
versatility, musicianship and technical accomplishment of mezzo-soprano
Magdalena Kožená.

Once I was: Songs by Ricky Ian Gordon features an assortment of
songs by Ricky Ian Gordon interpreted by soprano Stacey Tappan, a longtime
friend of the composer since their work on his opera Morning Star at
the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Alfredo Kraus, one of the most astute artists in operatic history in terms of careful management of technique and vocal resources, once said in an interview that ‘you have to make a choice when you start to sing and decide whether you want to service the music, and be at the top of your art, or if you want to be a very popular tenor.’

In the thirty-five years immediately following its American première at the Metropolitan Opera in 1914, Italo Montemezzi’s ‘Tragic Poem in Three Acts’ L’amore dei tre re was performed in New York on sixty-six occasions.

Known principally for its two concert show-pieces for the leading lady, the success of Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur relies upon finding a soprano willing to take on, and able to pull off, the eponymous role.

Itzhak
Perlman’s playing, unmistakable from the first, interacts with the
cantorial voice mirroring it, sounding an ethereal descant over it or leading
the supporting band. His playing represents the vision of the collection, and
sets the tone for each piece. Cantor Yitzhak Meir Helfgot, musically so well
matched to Mr. Perlman, is the vocal soloist whose extraordinary voice and
abilities prove an irresistible draw. The ten selections, taken mostly from the
traditional liturgy, are sung to long-beloved tunes emblematic of the musical
palette of Ashkenazic Jewry; the refined arrangements by Hankus Netsky with
Jesse Gelber and Dmitri Slepovitch should be as appealing to the
khazones newcomer as they are familiar to the khazones
connoisseur. In its intimacy, spontaneity and captivating interpolations of
dance within song, the presentation is novel, but the album is not a novelty:
gimmickry and kitsch are wholly absent. An atmosphere arises akin to that of a
kumsitz or farbrengen, a bit informal, but spiritually
elevated. In this virtual setting, one gathers with wonderful musicians of
varied experiences and backgrounds for the sake of an outpouring of the Jewish
soul to God. Instrumentalists, who traditionally put their fiddles,
tsimbl, clarinets and horns away on the Sabbath and Jewish holy days,
play as if they were Cantor Helfgot’s meshorerim, in music whose
natural setting is the shul [synagogue], the Shabbos
[Sabbath] table, the simcha [joyous occasion] or the stage.

Of the five pieces customary for shul—T’filas
Tal [Prayer for Dew], Yism’chu [They Shall Rejoice],
R’tzay [Be Favorable], Sheyibone Bays Hamikdosh [May
the Holy Temple Be Rebuilt], Kol Nidre [All Vows]—the
R’tzay and Sheyibone Bays Hamikdosh are said daily, in
fact, multiple times a day. Yitzhak Schlossberg’s R’tzay
and Israel Schorr’s Sheyibone elaborate these prayers. Both
texts ask for God’s favor that the Temple be rebuilt and the Temple
service be restored. Schlossberg’s R’tzay pleads the case
for the acceptance of Israel’s prayers with the kind of heightened
vocalization—the krekhts—and sheer persistence that is
characteristic of khazones. Accompaniment is minimal. By contrast,
Schorr’s Sheyibone is a catchy folk-like tune punctuated by
vocal displays ascending to high B-flat, high C and a bit beyond, before
returning to the earthier main tune. This too is a pleading, but grounded in a
tune both delightful and unforgettable.

Yism’chu, a prayer of rejoicing in the Sabbath, precedes
R’tzay during the Sabbath day mussaf service. It is
sung to an old Hassidic tune that became widely used in non-Hassidic circles
thanks to recording and publication. As a prayer of rejoicing, the weight of
pleading and heightened text expression is lifted. The folk instruments come
forward and a dance in the spirit of Sabbath joy emerges to finish the piece.
Hopeful more than joyful, T’filas Tal expresses Israel’s
utter reliance upon God to draw blessings down upon the land of Israel. Dew
signifies favor, enlightenment, sweetness and abundance: a good decree. Heard
once a year on the first day of Passover, it is a composition of the legendary
cantor Yossele Rosenblatt. From its overall earnest tone, cadenza opportunities
emanate that take flight for both cantor and violinist.

There is no music on the album more famous than that of Kol Nidrei.
Arnold Schoenberg, who himself set Kol Nidrei, observed that it is not
a single melody or set composition, but a collection of melodic turns that can
be rendered in highly individual ways. It is chanted in the evening prior to
Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement]. In a real sense, Kol Nidrei is
a legal proceeding that must conclude before nightfall concerning the
nullification of vows. As stressful as a court appearance is, that stress is
never reflected in Cantor Helfgot’s voice or in the arrangement, which
prefers intimacy to monumentality. The piece begins with a prelude for the
violin based on a tune Elie Wiesel sings in his congregation. The accompaniment
is a gentle whisper as Cantor Helfgot begins. While his voice soars through the
familiar melodic turns, it never sounds strained, nor does the music ever sound
too facile. The violin returns with the High Holy Days nusach offered
in the most humble and pure fashion. The ornamented final D-flat is sufficient
for closure.

Other works include the Mizmor L’Dovid [23rd Psalm] of Ben
Zion Shenker, the great exponent of the Hassidic music of Modzitz, sung widely
at the Sabbath table, and the Zionist theatrical piece, Shoyfer shel
Moshiach of Abraham Goldfaden. The preference is for music with a
connection to Judaism in its immediacy as opposed to music that is already at a
remove from Jewish life, like the famous Oyfn Pripetchik. Electronics,
key change gimmicks and other elements of pop music are avoided. There is more
than sufficient tonal variety thanks to the keys chosen for the arrangements.
This album’s stylistic affinities lie with Schubert Lieder and
the orchestrations of Joseph Rumshinsky.

What is the album about? This is answered in the first number, A
Dudele, a song by the Hassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev
(1740-1809). The song, like the psalm and liturgical pieces, is directed to the
Ribbono shel Olam [Master of the Universe]. What begins as a
rhetorically intensified cry for God’s attention transforms itself into
an acknowledgment of God’s omnipresence and nearness. With that
realization the rhetorical formalities fall away as a desire for closeness
becomes more insistent. It is this particular desire for closeness to the
Divine on behalf of the individual, the family, the community, the nation and
the world that ultimately speaks to a shared universal desire full of great
hope. In this respect, this album should speak to a wide audience.